If you want to understand why conspiracy theories about Jeffrey Epstein flourish, then you must read the interminable investigation the New York Times published, purporting to explain how Jeffrey Epstein clawed himself to the pinnacle of the financial/political/social world. “The Untold Story of How Jeffrey Epstein Got Rich” concludes that Epstein was the greatest conman and swindler that ever lived, and charmed the pants off of every powerful man he met. Some of his marks still curse Epstein for fleecing them. But the paradigm of the article is the execs at Bear Stearns back in the 70s who found out that the former math teacher at Dalton School had invented college degrees from “two California universities” but didn’t fire him because they wanted to give a humble kid from the outer boros a second chance.
“You lied about your education,” [senior exec Michael] Tennenbaum said.
“Yes, I know,” Epstein calmly replied. He had never graduated from college. Tennenbaum recalls being disarmed by the admission. Decades later, he would regard it as an example of Epstein’s ability to manipulate his marks — in this case, him.
“Why did you do it?” Tennenbaum stammered.
Without an impressive degree or two, Epstein said, “I knew nobody would give me a chance.”
This resonated with Tennenbaum.
That’s a great story, and there is great reporting in this article. But the premise of the article is a stupid myth the NYT wants to believe– That Epstein was just the canniest, boldest con man that ever lived, and he left everybody swooning. The talented Mr Ripley.
It’s a myth not because Epstein was not a bold and crafty con man – no doubt he was. But even a conman can have an ethos. Look at Gatsby, a mobster with romance. Look at Trump’s fascistic populism. And Jeffrey Epstein had an ethos that he played on over and over again as his racket grew; and that ethos was the love of Israel in the rising Jewish meritocratic establishment of the 70s.
Almost every player in the Times story is a Jewish success story who lobbied for Israel in prestigious circles, from Dershowitz to Larry Summers, Leon Black, Lynn Forester de Rothschild, and Epstein’s most famous associations, Robert Maxwell and Les Wexner.
Love of Israel was a lead criterion for inclusion in Epstein’s circle. I don’t think Epstein’s “marks” were even fooled by him. They knew he was a conman who played fast and loose. But they also knew that the Israel lobby has a need for charmers who break the rules, so they looked the other way.
Epstein did numerous chores for Israel that investigative sites have documented and the Times does not touch: he helped Israel broker financial deals with neighbors, he had an Israeli spy living in his house for a time, and he had a close relationship with former Israeli PM Ehud Barak that included business ventures and politics in Israel.
“It’s well past time to ask questions about the billionaire pedophile’s links to Israel,” Jacobin says.
Epstein held multiple passports, including one from Austria with a false name and an address in Saudi Arabia.
Some theorize that Epstein was Mossad and running a “honeytrap” for the Israeli government, videotaping pols having sex so they could be blackmailed to support Israel. I don’t see the evidence for this. However, the evidence in plain sight suggests that Epstein was always willing to help Israel whenever possible, and this service ultimately elevated him.
As the Times says, in its one reference to Israel: “In 1989, Epstein accompanied Wayne Owens, a Democratic congressman from Utah, on a trip to the Middle East to explore ways to promote business ties between Israel and its neighbors.” That trip came about because of Epstein’s relationship to the Israel-supporter Les Wexner. But the Times studiously avoids the Israel connection when it comes to the two people Epstein was closest to, businessman Wexner and fellow child sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell.
To show you how foolish the Times narrative is, let’s focus on those relationships.
Maxwell says she met Epstein in 1990 or 1991 when she was 30 and had come to New York from England as an ambassador for her beloved father’s growing media empire in the States. A friend introduced her, she says, and she remembers Epstein, then in his late 30s, having a ketchup stain on his tie.
Maxwell’s father then vetted Epstein by calling Bear Stearns execs. Here’s the Times version:
“When the domineering Robert Maxwell learned that his daughter was spending time with Epstein, he contacted Ace Greenberg and Jimmy Cayne, both of whom he was close to, to see what they knew about their former Bear Stearns employee. Greenberg and Cayne apparently vouched for Epstein.”
Ghislaine explained the vetting in her deposition to the Justice Department last summer. Her father was extremely protective of her because he was such a controversial figure that she had been threatened, including a death threat by the Irish Republican Army. So he wanted to get her a bodyguard (she turned him down) and to know who she was dating. And Bear Stearns was “one of our banks.”
Let’s take Ghislaine at her word…
What doesn’t track in the Times story is the idea that Cayne and Greenberg would “vouch” for Epstein. Wait a second. The Times just recounted one incident after another in Epstein’s career in his 20s and 30s where he ripped people off, lied to them, smiles and waves. Cayne and Greenberg knew this well. They’d fired Epstein after an SEC investigation of trading violations 10 years earlier! They knew Epstein to be a charming fraud who invented his degrees.
So when their friend and client Robert Maxwell, who is one of the biggest businessmen in the world, calls them to get their take on Epstein as boyfriend material for his beloved daughter — they “vouch” for him. No red flags??
I think the truth is that everybody knew this guy was a conman, and Ghislaine wasn’t really his girlfriend, but a consort; it was a business relationship from the start (she claims he was actually dating Eva Andersson until 1994). And in fact, the Bear Stearns execs were vouching for Epstein as a Jewish kid on the make who loved what Robert Maxwell loved — Israel.
Robert Maxwell was born in Czechoslovakia and lost much of his family in the Holocaust. As Ghislaine Maxwell stated in her deposition to the Justice Department last summer, her father served as an intelligence officer in World War II and essentially functioned as one throughout his life, passing on secrets to governments, including Israel. There is speculation that Maxwell worked for Mossad. After his death by drowning in 1991, Maxwell was given what the press termed a state funeral in Israel, and then was buried in Jerusalem.
“My father, you know, anything that touches on Israel or the state of Israel, I’m always interested in because my father loved Israel and so I pay attention to it and we have ties to Israel,” Maxwell said.
Jimmy Cayne also loved Israel; he gave to many causes there. Ace Greenberg gave half his philanthropy to Jewish causes and Israel.
The Times also whitewashes the relationship with Les Wexner, the man who truly elevated Epstein. This is how the Times subtitles their association: “A confidence man meets his most significant mark”
So Les Wexner is a mark? But according to the Times, Wexner’s people saw through Epstein from the start. And Wexner just “didn’t listen” again and again.
[Harold] Levin told us that he spent an hour with Epstein in his office and immediately got a bad vibe. He found a pay phone and called Wexner. “I smell a rat,” Levin reported. “I don’t trust him.”
Wexner apparently didn’t listen…
Almost immediately, Wexner’s colleagues grew alarmed by his embrace of Epstein. “I tried to find out how did he get from a high school math teacher to a private investment adviser,” the vice chairman of the Limited told The New York Times in 2019….
Once again, Wexner didn’t listen, and thus became the most important contributor to the staggering growth in Epstein’s fortune. One unsolved mystery of the Epstein era is what exactly Wexner got out of their relationship.
Wexner didn’t listen because he didn’t want to listen. As to what he got out of the relationship—well, Wexner cares deeply about Israel. Wexner is married to an Israeli-American, Abigail Koppel, whose father fought in Israel’s foundational war and later opened El Al Airlines in the U.S. Per the latest emails, Koppel and Epstein were close. When her father died in 2006—“In lieu of flowers, the family requests that contributions be made to ‘Friends of the Israel Defense Forces,’”
Wexner is a pillar of the Israel lobby. Just last month at the Jewish Federations conference, Eric Fingerhut, a former Congress member, hailed Wexner as one of those great Jewish leaders who love Israel and combine communal leadership with the ability to stand next to the governor and the mayor.
Yes, and right after he got in with Wexner, Epstein flew out to Israel with a Utah congressman to promote business deals.
Once you start connecting Israel dots with Epstein, you can’t stop…. Epstein worked with Dershowitz to try to discredit the authors of the bombshell Israel lobby paper in 2006.
Epstein’s close associate Leon Black (who was brought down by their association in 2021) gave $1 million to the Birthright program and a large gift to the Israeli defense forces.
The one time I met Epstein (reporting for this article) he was with Howard Rubenstein, the p.r. guy who was a devoted supporter of Israel.
You simply cannot separate the shared love of Israel from Epstein’s mysterious rise. The Times investigation is naïve and stupid. No wonder people turn to Tucker Carlson.
